Metallica

Posted 18 September 2014 - 03:25 AM

The Malwarebytes research team has determined that Coupon Locker is a browser hijacker. These so-called "hijackers" manipulate your browser(s), for example to change your startpage or searchscopes, so that the affected browser visits their site or one of their choice. This one also displays advertisements.

How do I know if my computer is affected by Coupon Locker?

This is how the startscreen of the installer looks:

And you may see these warnings:

or this entry in your list of installed programs:

or this icon in your taskbar:

How did Coupon Locker get on my computer?

Browser hijackers use different methods for distributing themselves. This particular one was bundled with other software.

How do I remove Coupon Locker?

Our program Malwarebytes Anti-Malware can detect and remove this potentially unwanted program.

Double-click mbam-setup-version.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.

At the end, be sure a check-mark is placed next to the following:

Enable free trial of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium

Launch Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

Then click Finish.

If an update is found, you will be prompted to download and install the latest version.

Once the program has loaded, select Scan now. Or select the Threat Scan from the Scan menu.

When the scan is complete , make sure that everything is set to "Quarantine", and click Apply Actions.

Reboot your computer if prompted.

Is there anything else I need to do to get rid of Coupon Locker?

The rogue replaces your hosts file, so you may have to restore the old one. You can find third-party hosts file alternatives at hpHosts or at mvps.org or you can simply reset the default hosts file as outlined here by Microsoft.

We hope our application and this guide have helped you eradicate this hijacker.

As you can see below the full version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware would have protected you against the Coupon Locker hijacker. It would have warned you before the rogue could install itself, giving you a chance to stop it before it became too late.